INsiders Guide: Lyzzie, BLVCK VIØLET, TFD, DDG, Jayde, CVIRO & GXNXVS, ZHU, Paranormal Raptivity, El’Vee, ARLISTON, YOUTH FOUNTAIN, FE SALOMON, Caravan Dream…

Jayde has “always felt a compulsion to externalize my thoughts and internal conflicts.” Growing up in a small town in Ontario, surrounded by instruments at her grandparents’ house and listening to her dad blast Coldplay songs on his stereo, Jayde gravitated toward music from a young age. Her parents describe how she began writing little melodies and lyrics about how the wind felt or how the sky was blue. When she hit her adolescent years, she threw herself into any opportunity to create music, which involved many singer-songwriter competitions, small performances, and songwriting camps. Jayde excelled in these settings, especially when competing on CTV’s The Launch, receiving praise from artists and industry executives such as Jann Arden, Scott Borchetta and Marie Mai.  

Jayde released a set of singles in 2018, which she felt were the first hints at her ‘real’ sound and displayed the intimate moments that she values addressing through her artistry. In 2021, Jayde released her debut EP titled Sad Songs About Sad Things. For Jayde, the EP functioned as an “artistic scrapbook” from a very transitional time period in her life. As the songs organically culminated, the project became monumental to Jayde’s artistic identity; she felt that it was important enough to share with others – her only hope in mind that others might resonate with her stories and take comfort in the connection. The EP was featured in outlets such as Ones to Watch, Early Rising, Before the Data, Sheesh, Music.com, and The Hidden Hits, as well as notable playlists, namely New Music Friday Canada, It’s a Bop, Fresh Finds, Fresh Finds Pop, EQUAL Canada, and Radar Canada. 

Jayde is ramping up to release more music in 2022. She explains that “the new releases are some of the most genuine” to her creative identity, “this project came from a period of musical exploration but personal stagnation.” There was a great deal of existential dread involved in the creative process as Jayde questioned everything around her, including her personal relationships, her artistry, and her creativity. “Writing and recording this past year definitely wasn’t a glamorous experience. I would walk into a writing session and spill out my entire life to strangers, and we connected and made something from it. It was the most vulnerable I have ever been, and only through music did I process my emotions.” Jayde maintains tackling her “sad” subject matter, but her newest songs are moody, energetic, and incredibly empowering. Finally, having let go of any notions of who she should sound like, or what she should say, there is no hesitation in her latest artistry to dig into hard truths about what it is like to be a creative and navigate personal identity within the rapidly changing contemporary world.  

A while back, vocalist CVIRO and producer GXNXVS met and instantly bonded over the sound and spirit of nineties R&B and soul. As if meant to make music together all along, GXNXVS showed up to their first encounter with his recording gear in tow. Not long after, the duo bubbled up out of Australia and into the international conversation by 2014. The breakout “Benjamins” announced their arrival, piling up 8.1 million Spotify streams and counting. “Problem” and “Lady” posted up millions of Spotify streams, and “Sober” eclipsed 8.2 million Spotify streams. Along the way, OVO Sound Radio and Beats 1 championed their music. Not to mention, global super model and style icon Bella Hadid played CVIRO & GXNXVS on her social media to tens of millions of followers. Receiving widespread praise, Earmilk exclaimed, “Each new song possesses equally as much flava as the last,” and HYPEBEAST praised the single “Caught Up” as “reminiscent of 90s throwback R&B with its smooth but bouncy production and vocal delivery.” Perhaps, Acclaim put it best, “Their sound is smooth and sexy, a fusion of old school R&B sounds with modern neo-soul.” With EPs such as Now You Know [2018] and The Sequel [2020] under their belt, their collective work ethic simply never relented. Now, they reignite, reshape, and recharge R&B with futuristic flair and cinematic nuance on their 2022 debut EP for Red Bull Records, Come On In, introduced by the single “Nasty” [feat. Jean Deaux].

Hello Yes are in the spotlight with a new EP “Lost Signal” out October 21st on Gravitas Recordings.  With the first singles already making waves we can’t wait for what is next with this duo.  This new EP brings in groovy house vibes blended with their signature guitar/sax elements for a perfect combination.  After their debut live show at Lightning in a Bottle, fans have been eager to get their hands on these unreleased dancefloor anthems, and Hello Yes is ready to share these with the world. They are currently traveling on tour with ZHU and that’s not stopping them from their Hello Yes project and diving into their own sound. This is just the beginning for this very special duo!

Here’s what the duo has to say about each track:  Never Trusted Me birthed in a snowy cabin in the woods, we iPhone recorded melancholy chords on an untuned piano, instantly inspiring the hypnotic top line of ‘never trusted me’. While moody and dark, the track still bounces and the guitar/sax hook takes lift, elevating and driving home dance elements.  My Love is a simple mid tempo love song, with wafting airy notes of early summer. Lyrically channeling the honeymoon phases of a blossoming relationship. Drawing sonically from early Brazilian tropicália with nostalgic horns riffs, lyrical flute, and classic bass textures. The Lesson is a moody, driving house beat with a foreboding message of getting burned and learning your lesson. This upbeat jammer, grooves and drips with oscillating textures building to a peak and dropping out to intimate flute and guitar melodies. Never Feel the Same has a muffled house beat and driving, gritty bass line that dance together, with a plea to ease and heal the pain. Depending on your mood, this song could be interpreted as soft and smooth or hard and emotional. Easily fitting into the classic mold of songs you want to hear during darker times.

Konquest was born in California and grew up in areas where gang violence ran rampant.
Konquest was naturally charismatic as a kid so after witnessing him dance and sing songs constantly, his mom and auntie encouraged his talents by having him do live performances at local parties and entering him into talent shows.
When he was 13, Konquest moved to Inglewood, California which he says is a place that taught him a lot about hustle, loyalty, respect & family as he fell in love with the city. By the time he was a senior at Inglewood High School, Konquest entered himself into competitive freestyle battles with local artists as he moved to many different areas in Southern California.
Once Konquest decided to take music seriously, he started releasing multiple mixtapes, singles and albums which catapulted his musical popularity within the underground hip hop scene.
Now, gaining mass attention from his amazing live performances as an opening act for big names primarily merging elements of horror and hip hop, Konquest is a respected lyrical emcee who continues to make an impact on the music industry.

Don’t let this cold weather fool you, El’Vee are still rolling out the riddims! Made up of twin sisters Lilian and Vivian, the UK-based and Nigerian-born newcomers have dropped their brand new vibrant single named, ‘Jealousy’.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD: EL’VEE – JEALOUSY

Interlaced with a percussive and hip-moving production that’s reminiscent of Southwestern Nigeria courtesy of Sparkzy, El’Vee welcome the track with infectious melodies and a wheel-up worthy chorus. Navigating the hurdles, they have overcome throughout the course of their journey so far in the music industry ‘Jealousy’ is a tale of admiration. Speaking on the release the twins commented, “Jealousy is a blend of eclectic sounds, that reflects not just our culture and heritage but our artistic individuality”.

Ahead of their upcoming EP this Autumn – ARLISTON – set the scene for the release with a cinematic new video for the featured single: “Hold My Wine”.

WATCH THE OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR “HOLD MY WINE” HERE

Pairing filmic visuals to the stately and atmospheric score provided by the London duo, the official video for “Hold My Wine” arrives like a coming-of-age classic conceived for the silver screen.

Tapping into the themes of transition and insecurity at play in song, Bo Morgan, the creator/director behind the video explains:

“It’s about self belief, determination and finding your voice. On the first listen Hold My Wine felt like it was about the identity crisis you mind transitioning from a young teenager to an adult. The isolation and trying to understand where you fit in this incredibly complicated world. Which oddly doesn’t stop as an adult. As soon as that chorus dropped with the lyrics ‘stand out of the way’; it felt deeply deeply emotional to me and elicited strong feelings of determination and motivation… It was a cathartic and inspiring video to make.”

A song described by the band’s Jack Ratcliffe to be about that moment “when you look up from the narrow corridor of your own thoughts and are seized by the idea that everyone else has progressed and developed, while you are stuck in an unchanged rut”, “Hold My Wine” is a song that’s full of earnest reflection, but never mired by the tropes of cliché.

From its swaying acoustic guitars to its glimmering 80s-inspired synths and enrapturing story-like lyricism, it’s a stirring, bittersweet listen that paves a promising marker on the route towards their ‘Even In The Shade’ EP release on 4 November 2022.

With their consistency and knack for rich melodies and contemplative atmospherics paying-off, the new EP is the sound of a band exceeding their potential — and not afraid to reach further. From the quiet circumspection on “Mothering”, to the intricate acoustica of “Tombstone Teeth”, to the all-encompassing “TV Dinner”, or the quiet caress of “Sydenham Place”; it’s a collection that illustrates the Arliston sound growing in stature and evolving in new and unexpected ways. Produced by the duo, the EP was mix-mastered by Brett Shaw (Foals, Florence and the Machine).

With intricate production and tight musicianship seeing the band expertly toe the line between optimism and melancholia, Arliston have amassed over 38,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and gained placement on a number of the streaming giant’s editorial playlists including New Music Friday and The Most Beautiful Songs In The World. Well and truly embedding themselves in the indie music scene, Arliston have also gained praise from the likes of Notion, Wonderland, Earmilk and CLOUT with the latter saying “Arliston have star quality written all over them”. Elsewhere, Clash Magazine have lauded the band’s music as “beguiling experimental pop”, with The 405 applauding their “swirling ambient sensitivity.” 

Ornate indie-pop that is at once devastatingly beautiful and dazzlingly ambitious, Arliston’s latest release ‘Even In The Shade’ arrives this Autumn.

Youth Fountain has announced the deluxe version of his second album ‘Keepsakes & Reminders‘. The record is out the 4th November via Pure Noise Records and features two brand new songs ‘Birthright’ and ‘Speaking In Tongues’.

Speaking about the singles Tyler Zanon said “Both these singles were written when I was at a super low point in my life earlier this year. I felt like giving up on absolutely everything and never wanted to pursue any of the things I thought I loved and cared for anymore. Birthright / Speaking In Tongues are a complete reflection of those feelings.”

As she confirms the release of her debut solo album for 2023 – FE SALOMON – is pleased to present its leading single: “Quintessential England”.

WATCH THE OFFICIAL VIDEO HERE || STREAM ON ALL SERVICES HERE

Arriving like a twisted fairytale from the heart of Middle England, the new single from Fe Salomon is off-kilter and unpredictable at every turn.

Taking the listener into “the countryside, in the middle of nowhere, with postcard villages and fresh clean air”, “Quintessential England” finds an artist reflecting on a period of her life where she gave up the bright lights of the city in search of a new life in Rutland (the smallest county in the UK on the Northamptonshire/Leicestershire border).

While this beautiful pocket of England provided the change of environment she craved, after spending a couple of years playing at the good life, petting sheep and living an isolated existence’ the daydream began to fade and Fe began to realise that the demons that had driven her there hadn’t disappeared. 

With its toy-town like melodies, topsy-turvy vocal trills and clockwork-like percussive ticks, it’s a song that twitches with a very palpable presence of paranoia and claustrophobia. Speaking about how she formulated its unique score, Fe remembers:

“The starting points of this song were the howls and chirps made by the studio cat, mixed with vocals, then transcribed into violin parts and played with chopsticks.”

Caravan Dream are: Hadi Assoum (Lead Guitars & Piano), Radi El Zouhby (Lead Vocals & Guitars), Rami El Zouhby (Bass Guitars) & Oleksandr Banashko (Drums) – a four piece multinational Rock band formed in 2019 in the Middle East while living as expats in Qatar. The band is an embodiment of many eclectic musical influences ranging from Rock, Pop, Psychedelic Rock, Funk, Hardrock and Metal, all fused together in an incredible musical melting pot of credible pop rock. The band release their debut album “Fantasy” on 13th October 2022.

It was during the rigours and uncertainties of the various lockdowns at the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic that the band transformed from what was essentially a covers band, into a whole new creation. Hadi had penned an original composition inspired by the heroes of the pandemic “Heroes Dreams” which was thenarranged and self-produced by the band. It was then, looking for a ‘liberation’ or ‘journey’ from the broken dreams left behind in their homes in Lebanon & Ukraine, they decided to call themselves Caravan Dream. It was a defining moment.

The album “Fantasy” is a collection of distinctly modern, thoroughly unique takes on modern pop/rock.  Thoughtful, uplifting, and universal in its messages, the album will resonate with listeners everywhere and showcases their gift for using music as a unifying force around the world. Each of the tracks has a distinctive life and personality of its own. 

“Moonlight” , is spacious, grandiose, and almost esoteric in its form. “Fantasy” provides a ‘perfect virtual space’ that we can all retreat to and escape the harshness of the real world. “Constellation” is an intricate instrumental cosmic dream, punctuated with soaring vocals, “Lines” is dark and groovy while “Home” is a true power ballad. “Rock n Roll Girl” is a female empowerment anthem.  Meanwhile, “Into Your Maze” reveals the band’s ability to compose stadium sized melodies, with a more overtly rock tone to underscore the sense of inner turmoil and conflicts.

Caravan Dream are the sum of all genres, music, countries and reflections on the world around us. Their album “Fantasy” is a musical haven where we can hide from the troubles around us and find musical joy in a safe space.

Capo Corleone is an international recording artist and music executive based out of Los Angeles. As the CEO of the highly successful C2 Management and founder and former CEO of Tree4ort Records, his musical endeavors shine bright. The alternative hip-hop artist has solidly embossed himself in global success, honing his international collaboration and artist development like no other.

Now, he is soaring back into the scene with his new single “Fly”, in collaboration with notable Polish jazz musician and global producer Kuba Więcek and Warsaw’s pop sensation Zalia. Written in Los Angeles, CA, where Corleone’s evolution began, his next single was inspired by a huge period of growth. Corleone confides, “I was constantly surrounded by uninspiring and self-interested people dreaming about a life I knew I could attain. Upon eliminating these people from my life, I began only surrounding myself with people who built me up and added to my life and who truly wanted to see me succeed. “Fly” is the story of my evolution and the story of me following my gut and intuition. It’s a story of me simply killing the old version and creating a new one.”

Ahead of the release of his new album ‘Positioning The Sun’ this Friday (14 Oct), Milan-based Singer-songwriter QUARRY is pleased to present the video for one of its stand-out moments: “Beyond Any Sense”. 

WATCH THE “BEYOND ANY SENSE” OFFICIAL VIDEO HERE

Blending gently chugging guitars and jangling percussion, the new track sees Quarry perfect his ability to channel immense and existential issues through earworm melodies and rousing instrumentals. 

Written in Quarry’s home studio in Milan in 2021, the artist played all of the instruments on the track with many of his first takes “which were meant to be scratch tracks” ending up in the final mix.

Inspired by John Lennon’s solo material and grappling with the complications that come with living in the modern world, Quarry explains:

“”Beyond Any Sense” has an undercurrent of awkwardness to it, giving voice to the experience of feeling uncomfortable in this social framework. The track expresses my conflicted feelings about liquid modernity. Consumerist technology, the desire to imitate the latest market’s way of life and an algorithmic world that rearranges our lives all seem to steal my soul — and I need it back.” 

Mid-February 2012, something triggered a bout of obsessive-compulsive disorder which took over my mind and life for the better part of a decade. It wasn’t fun. But with lots of help, effort and meds, I eventually learned to manage it. Things have just gotten better from there.

OCD is still a part of my psyche; I doubt I’ll ever be rid of it entirely. Today, though, it’s just a thing that crops up every once and a while, not much more than a nuisance. When my OCD was bad, the world that existed in my head was bleak: constant swirling anxiety, unrelenting obsessive thoughts, and a feeling of being trapped within my own mind.

I eventually learned to manage my OCD and with that came an incredible sense of relief. I wanted to pack all of that into this song to convey the mental storm and the peace after the storm broke.
Stream “OCD” on streaming platforms everywhere now.

It’s illness, it’s confusion, it’s a kink in the lines,

It’s the rituals I repeat, it’s the loops of my mind.

The song “OCD” was written in the depths of winter, February 2022, with producer Mark Andrade and musicians Gary Pereira, Stephen O’Brien and I, at a cabin north of Toronto. We spent a few days smashing out a huge amount of recordings for this song and several others.

There we were, packed in this small space, heated by a wood stove, full of all this amazing sound … it was all a bit psychedelic and delirious. Whenever you felt cagey, you could go out onto the frozen lake with snowshoes and walk around in the silence and brilliant sunshine.

All this went down exactly ten years after OCD struck me in 2012 … almost to the day. An interesting symmetry, there. Cool to have marked the occasion with something that felt so freeing.

Thanks for listening,

apollonio

Tommy Newport is known for his irresistible falsetto-steeped indie anthems, garnering a substantial buzz with his 2018 debut, Just To Be Ironic, while he was still a teenager. Following the paramount success of 2019’s Tommy Gun EP and 2021’s Ultra Mango EP and Liquid EP, Newport continues to develop his euphonious sound. 

Born Oliver Milmine in Manchester, England, Newport moved to the United States at a young age, eventually settling in Kansas. There, he picked up the guitar and taught himself how to produce music on his computer. Consolidating his style and sound into something rather extraordinary, Newport has created his own funky, psychedelic style of pop with his falsetto vocals riding atop bulging basslines, grooving guitar, melodious keyboards and electronic grooves. Inspired by a mix of early-2000s bands like MGMT, The Killers, and Phoenix, he’s received musical placements on shows like Search Party, Ballers, Expecting Amy, I Love This For You, Never Have I Ever, Walker, Grand Crew, an Apple iPad commercial and What/If.

Receiving critical acclaim from The FADER, Complex, Zane Lowe, Hypebeast, High Snobiety, Pigeons & Planes, PAPER, Lyrical Lemonade, COLORS & more, the rising indie star returns. “Jackpot” features Juno Award (Canada’s version of the Grammys) winning Toronto rap legend Jazz Cartier. This next single soars with Newport and Cartier’s versatility, combining into a tune that showcases a truly euphoric blend of genres and likeining musicality. Newport explains, “Jazz was there for my first show ever at the Fonda in LA and was introduced to me by 4th Pyramid from day 1 so it felt like creating something together has been in the books for a while. I’ve always loved the idea of merging indie/rock and rap ever since hearing Mark Ronson pairing Action Bronson and Dan Auerbach together in 2016. 4th brought the vibes to the studio with a drum pattern that got the guitar in my hands and thinking of progressions, while Jazz was writing his lyrics. It all came together quickly and felt great. The lyricism hints at a paralleled relationship with Los Angeles and the luck it takes to keep that relationship alive. Jackpot.”

Electro-pop-punk phenom Sizzy Rocket is back with the second single from her forthcoming album, Live Laugh Love. “Bubblegum” is an ode to living your life and presents a frustration with being unable to feel anything in the internet age. Filmed in New York City, the official music video sees Rocket battling two forms of herself in a deserted Q Train, now streaming on Sizzy’s official YouTube channel HERE.

WATCH “BUBBLEGUM” OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

STREAM “BUBBLEGUM”

PRE-SAVE LIVE LAUGH LOVE

“I really just want to feel something. I’m so sick of the numbness, this Tik Tok era, being on my phone all the time and feeling detached from the world,” says Rocket. “No one’s really paying attention anymore but when you look up for one second you realize there’s so much life going on all around us all the time…and we’re missing it. We’re all on our f*cking phones and we’re missing the details that make life beautiful.”

“When I wrote this song it was summer 2020 and we had set up a makeshift studio in an air bnb in Yucca valley,” Rocket continues. “There was so much chaos going on in Los Angeles I just needed to get away from it. And I was drinking a lot of rosé because I was going through a break up and I was really hungover and I was just sick of it all. I actually smacked myself across the face so hard it left a bruise. I didn’t mean to but it just happened… it was like I needed to get myself to wake up and stop wallowing and stop wasting my love and my time and get out there into the world and really live my life and not in some f*cking tik tok way. I was just so f*cking fed up and it all just came out at once.” 

The “Bubblegum” music video was made with long-time collaborator Worst November. The two filmed on the Q train in New York this past September, capturing an empowered Rocket letting loose in a deserted train car, sporting grungy glamor looks and blissfully rocking out to her newest guitar heavy anthem.

Brooklyn-based indie/art rock band Late Sea share the poignant video for anti-war, protest track “Cover Up,” out everywhere now.

Late Sea is lead by composer and multi-instrumentalist Izzy Gliksberg (vocals, guitar, keyboard), along with Graham Dobby (drums), Clinton Greenlee (bass) and Kalen Lister (keyboard, vocals). In 2017, the group released their debut audio-visual EP, The Writers Trilogy with Emmy-nominated director, Andrew Alistratov and producer Hazuki Aikawa. The second track on the project, “The Great White” was praised by Impose Magazine who wrote, “Gliksberg’s vocals are haunting…the composition is stunning and in your face.” The group has also released a cover of the 1964 Simon and Garfunkel staple, “The Sounds of Silence.” With the cover, Audio Fuzz wrote the group “perfectly captured all the hidden nuances of the song, and when they play the instrumental break, it truly brings shivers up and down your spine.” In August 2020, the band shared a video for their track “Swan Song,” which garnered over 160,000 views on YouTube. The band’s latest EP, Rumor, produced by Grammy Award winner John Davis, arrived last year.

It was after scrolling through the news about another round of war between Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza that Gliksberg found inspiration for “Cover Up.” Gliksberg shares, “I’m from the Middle East so I was used to seeing this kind of trauma on TV, but this time, I suddenly realized that we’ve been through this exact scenario many times before.”

Gliksberg adds, growing increasingly weary of the constant strife, that the song at its core, is anti-war. “Growing up in Israel, I have seen, firsthand, that war is the definition of insanity. We keep expecting a different result, and nothing changes. It keeps happening, cyclically and seasonally this cold winter of humanity keeps coming back. War is not a solution. It won’t solve your problems. In a bird’s eye view, everyone will lose and nobody will win until we decide war itself is over.”

New Englandrock band Four Year Strong have announced a re-recorded version of “Enemy of the World”.  The album originally came out over 10 years ago and was a breakout record for the band.  Now it sees new production and 4 extra b-sides-  Pre-order Here

`’We decided to re record EOTW first and foremost to be as cool as Taylor Swift, but secondly because we wanted to be able to repress the vinyl and offer it to fans that haven’t been able to get it since the record came out.” says Alan Day.  He continues “It was really interesting to revisit all of the songs down to every detail, getting to kind of relive it in a way. We recorded the drums with Will Putney (who worked on the original EOTW as a engineer), did the rest by ourselves at Dans house, and then had Will work his magic on it and mix and master it. We had just worked with Will for the first time since 2010 on our new album Brain Pain, and figured it would be perfect to work with Will as he knows FYS old and new more than anyone. So give it a listen, come out to the tour, and party like it’s 2010 again.” 

Today, we are treated to four streaming singles, with the lead being “Cavalier”

“I remember writing the opening riff to Cavalier and thinking “why is this so good?” And later realizing it’s because the Beatles wrote it first. Thanks Paul!” says Alan Day

Theo Tams has reached the stature of a bona fide music veteran by now, but he’s also at the beginning of something new. 

The Canadian singer, songwriter, and performer has been playing since his teens and releasing music for the past 15 years. He has three albums and three EPs to his credit, along with a formidable collection of singles and…oh yeah, that championship run on the sixth season of Canadian Idol in 2008. Tams has put together a body of work that’s substantial and diverse. It speaks of an artist whose mission is growth and adventure — building upon his proverbial laurels, rather than sitting on them. 

With each step, Tams has made a stride forward, and sometimes even further. That’s certainly been true of the past few years, particularly with the series of three-song Trilogy EPs he’s embarked on, with the third just arriving and taking him into even more new sonic and lyrical terrain. 

“I think I’ve just gotten a lot more unapologetic in the process,” Tams, who lives in Toronto with his partner and their 11-year-old daughter, explains. “The biggest thing I notice when I listen back to the music that I’ve released before is I had no clue who I was or what I stood for. I really was just trying to check the boxes of what I thought made an artist, realizing that by doing that I wasn’t checking any of them. I was living up to this veneer, this shiny, perfect kind of image I felt like I created, and I don’t think that’s life. Life is messy and it’s hard, no matter who you are or where you’re from or what your background is.

“That’s what my music needed to reflect for me to really feel like an artist. So my whole new approach in music has been an exercise of saying ‘yes’ and allowing myself to do whatever I think is right.”

Vicki Lovelee is a Chinese-Canadian alt-pop singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Toronto. She uses orchestral instrumentation and fuses them with dramatic, pop elements; ultimately creating a dark and theatrical sound. Her music and style embodies a combination of fierce yet vulnerable; having eccentric elements like Lady Gaga and lush instrumentations like Lana Del Rey. As well as drawing influences from pop artists like Halsey, Lorde and MARINA.

Lyrically, Lovelee is unafraid to dive deep into topics like religion, death, mental health and self growth. “I’m a huge advocate for mental health awareness and believe in the acceptance of all cultures and identities” says Lovelee. “I take painful experiences and turn them into music and empowerment.” Lovelee frequently uses skulls, pink paint and eccentric black clothing to help tell her story. “I’m ultimately a storyteller — through music, art and fashion,” says Lovelee.

Lovelee has performed at various events in Ontario, Canada such as Toronto Chinatown Festival (2022) and Night It Up! (Markham, Ontario, 2022). She has also accumulated 40K+ streams on music platforms. Vicki Lovelee continues to pull listeners close with her eccentric performance style and theatrical edge.

Following his previous viral hit “Number 10”which so powerfully articulated the UK’s feelings on Partygate, Tom Walker has struck a chord with people across the world once again as he goes viral with new track “The Best Is Yet To Come” – listen HERE.

Tom is known for teasing his fans with newly written songs on TikTok and in the past couple of weeks had had an overwhelming response to one track in particular. What started as a verse quickly turned into “verse 2,” shortly followed by a full version as requested by Tom’s audience, with Tom eventually handing power to the fans and allowing them to name the song; yet another impeccable example of Tom’s relationship with his fanbase. You can listen to its final version from Tik Tok HERE.

The song has prompted a huge outpouring with people sharing their own stories on how and why the track resonates with them. From the relationship struggles between a mother & daughter, to a couple expecting their first baby, the song has seen hugely emotional responses across all social media, showing how deeply the song is connecting. Watch the lyric video HERE.

Since its upload last Thursday, the video of the full song has had over 3 million views, 20,000 tags & 26,000 shares. Last week Tom posted the pre-save & it now has over 4,500 pre-saves on Spotify & Apple Music. 

In 2019, Tom Walker won the Best British Breakthrough Artist at the Brit Awards and was also nominated for the Song of the Year his breakthrough single, “Leave A Light On.” Tom, whose global streams have passed three billion and has sold over two million albums worldwide, was the biggest selling UK signed artist of 2019 and is now working on the follow up to his UK No.1 platinum debut What A Time To Be Alive. Watch him perform his most recent single “Serotonin” on The Late Late Show With James Corden HERE.  

Brooklyn indie folk duo (Vito Aiuto and Monique Aiuto) The Welcome Wagon are thrilled to release their new single “Matthew 7:7” – out now.  “Matthew 7:7” is the second single released off the band’s new album Esther set to release November 4th via Asthmatic Kitty Records. 

The Welcome Wagon have also released a corresponding music video to the song, directed by Alex and Aaron Craig and filmed in Brooklyn, featuring the duo and friends in a church setting. 

Esther is the fourth full-length album from the Welcome Wagon as they return to Asthmatic Kitty Records, the label on which they began their musical journey. Fittingly, it is a record that explores the idea of home in all its beauty and complexity. It is as much about homecoming as it is about making peace with—and a home in—uncertainty. The project had its beginnings in the summer of 2017, when the family took a two-month sabbatical to California. Shortly after returning to Brooklyn, Vito found himself holding his guitar and allowing his fingers to play a few notes that just felt…right. Then the pandemic hit, and Vito’s strumming, lyrics, and thoughts became the soundtrack of the family’s lockdown lives. 

Hailing from the dark corners of some of Manchesters dingiest bars, The Strange Dream
are the cities most exciting new two piece psych-rock expereince. The band are bursting
out of the gates with debut single ‘Orange’, an instrumental chock-full of energy with latin influence.

The Strange Dream are a newly formed Manchester duo that fuse an awray influences
and energies to create imaginative and exciting sound-scapes resulting in dreamy and
energetic psych-rock with garage roots and an indie edge. With a host of live dates
already locked in, the band are ready to spread their infectious sound to basements and ballrooms across the country.

Debut single ‘Orange’ was an attempt to expand the bands mind and vission. On the
writing prosess the band recall ‘We wrote the song after attending a happydaze gig at
the Talleyrand im levenshulme. Inspired by the headline act and the rhythms we had not
previously tried to incorporate into our songwriting. We found it somewhat challenging
trying to create something outside the scope of what we normally would go to. It turned into a fun exercise which allowed us to expand our creative pallets.’

Written, recorded and produced by the bands two members, Vincent Strange and Virgil
Strange, ‘Orange’ is the first taste of the bands dreamy yet sometimes sometimes sleezy
sound. Catch them live in Manchester on December 9th (Aatma) and 19th (Big Hands).

Stalking Gia is a New York City based artist and platinum selling songwriter. Generating more than 20 million streams and receiving acclaim from Billboard, Noisey, Marie Claire, Nylon and more, the singer/songwriter materializes like a specter in the space between online fantasy and Manhattan’s real-life nocturnal glow.  Stalking Gia first came to life via the 2016 single “Second Nature”. Achieving viral success, the track organically tallied 13.2 million Spotify streams and incited a growing buzz.  blackbear integrated a sample of “Second Nature” into “Wish U The Best” from his platinum-certified chart-topping 2017 album, Digital Druglord.  Meanwhile, she maintained her momentum with the single “Siren”. In addition to touring alongside blackbear, she teamed up with him for the song “Miracles”, which landed on New Music Friday playlists worldwide and amassed 4.7 million streams and counting.  Stalking Gia then partnered with Epic Records on releases including “The Kindest Thing”, a bombastic goodbye anthem, “Astronaut”, a Bowie inspired piano ballad, “Worship”, an empowering song exploring the theme of self love, and “Blue”, her most recent track, which pulls the listener into another world with ethereal soundscapes and a static buzz from a lost connection.Stalking Gia is now embarking on a new journey and is back to independently self releasing her music. With a recent Tiktok of a demo gaining momentum she released “saddest happy girl”; a song which samples the famous nursery rhyme “Clementine” in its chorus to much acclaim. Her new track “obviously…” is “

about the dreaded talking phase during the first few weeks of seeing someone new. From grand gestures to radio silence and all the speculation in-between.” 

Email: [email protected]

Socials: @neillfrazer